Dancing in Beauty
by tectrices
Summary: //pre-Rayne// Based on "She Walks in Beauty". The words she gave him might better fit Inara, but Jayne can't help this new feeling that River might have the best of dark and bright, too.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Firefly/Serenity or the lines of Byron's poetry.

**A/N:** A pre-Rayne fic based on the poem "She Walks in Beauty". Of course the idea of Jayne watching as River dances is cliché, but I enjoy - as one might surmise from my Rayne sonnets - the idea of Jayne and poetry. Heh.

Dancing in Beauty

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Malcolm Reynolds took every opportunity he could to assert his authority, and most of his crew knew to avoid him when he was in one of his moods. It was unfortunate for Jayne that he caught the captain just when a particularly "captainy" fit had taken him.

"Jayne," Mal said sternly. "Don't you have somethin' to be doin'?"

The merc didn't heed any of the captain's tell-tale signs. "No." He looked back to the magazine he'd been browsing through.

Mal raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Well maybe you best find somethin' to do - else I aim to give it to you."

And with that, the captain stomped off to find someone else to bother.

"Puh," Jayne breathed angrily. "Gotta go pickin' on folks just 'cause he ain't gettin' sexed." No doubt the captain and Inara had fought again; that, quicker than almost anything, was sure to put Mal in a dangerously bad mood. With a grunt, he stood up. Sitting in the common area seemed to be a bad idea, so the best course of action - besides going back to his bunk, which still smelled of that gorram scent stuff of Inara's thanks to the moonbrain's prank - was to go to the hold and lift weights. If he was lucky, maybe the Shepherd would even be available to spot him.

Unfortunately, it was River, not Book, who was waiting for him on his weight bench.

"Get offa there, you little pest," he growled, storming towards her.

River only smiled. "Here first; man-called-Jayne must wait his turn."

"I ain't waitin' on nothin' - them's my weights." She didn't respond, barely registering he had spoken at all. "Girl... I don't like you, and if you think I'm gonna let you get away with this just 'cause you're little and crazy, then you ain't got a lick o' sense left."

"Will not move." She lay down on her stomach, wrapping her arms around the bench. "It is exceedingly comfortable."

Patience wearing thin, Jayne snarled at her, poking her side in a weak attempt to dislodge her. She remained. "Fine," he said angrily. "It's your own fault, anyway, you moonbrain." He slung one big arm around her middle and yanked. She yelped a little, but let go of the bench. He tossed her over one shoulder and walked purposefully over to the space under the stairs. She squawked a little, but didn't struggle and seemed otherwise indifferent to being carried around like some sort of sack. "Here," he announced, setting her down on a crate. "You stay over here. I'll be over there."

"Draw a line," she said, swinging her feet a little. "My side, your side - don't cross over!"

"Yeah, whatever. Jus'... stay over here." He shook his head, wishing he didn't have to deal with her. He'd just ignore her and do his work-out, then get out of there.

Jayne put the weights on the bar, then with a deep exhale he laid down. It seemed the moonbrain had actually listened to him; she wasn't anywhere in sight. He started his reps, the burn and repetitive motion wiping his mind of nearly all thought.

And he continued peacefully for awhile. After doing bench press he started bicep curls - and that was when he spotted River, swaying gently in place. She'd moved from her spot on the crate but was still far enough away that it was relatively easy to ignore her.

Until she started dancing.

She didn't do it too often, but sometimes when the mood took her she'd dance around the entire ship for hours. It was just another one of her habits that drove Jayne up the wall. He tried not to even spare her a glance, but she was twirling closer and closer. Probably teasing, he thought viciously, trying to get him to notice her so he'd go off and she could get him into trouble.

The problem, though, was that it was working. She was so graceful it seemed she was floating, like the ship's gravity couldn't even hold her down. And her long, slender limbs flew around her body like some warm night breeze was blowing them. It was easy to forget that she was broken when she danced - muscle memory made it as simple as breathing for her, and though he had no knowledge of any dance styles, he'd have wagered that each step was perfectly executed.

She fought the same way and Jayne felt an odd sort of pull as he watched her, matching each step to the follow-through for an attack. One long leg kicked out and he knew that if any force had been applied it could have knocked a man halfway across the room. Her eyes were closed and she wore a dreamy smile; the girl looked so content that she seemed normal, almost... _pretty_. If it hadn't been the crazy moonbrained girl, it might have been mesmerizing.

River - who had begun dancing much closer to him - glanced over, her eyes wide and all-knowing, as though she knew exactly what was going through his head. That made Jayne uncomfortable, and being uncomfortable made Jayne angry. So he put his weights down and glared fixedly at her.

It took a moment, but as she felt his eyes on her, the dancing slowed. She came to a leisurely, spinning stop in front of him. She stood, hands clasped behind her back. Then she blinked at him - and he was sure she did it _at_ him - and cocked her head to one side. "You stare. Why?"

He grit his teeth, fighting back more violent urges. The slip of a girl was all manner of annoying. "Yer lookin' at me like you know what I was thinkin'. You been in my head?"

She shrugged, twirling once. "Can't help what we fall into. Soft, warm quicksand - sucking me in slowly."

He didn't respond immediately, and she registered confusion mixed in with the anger on his face. "What the hell's that s'posed to mean?"

"Thought was clear, focused - loud. Fell in."

"Well don't. Stay outta my gorram head, we clear?"

"Transparent." She giggled lightly, then pranced away as though buffeted by his irate blustering. "Is man-called-Jayne embarrassed to have been caught lavishing mental praise?" She did some sort of complicated dance move, lifting her left foot above her head. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

His agitation was rising. "Look, girly, jus' cause I mighta been thinkin' on how that dance go se o' yours is good practice for fightin' don't mean I was flatterin' or nothin'. I still don't like ya."

"Don't have to like something to appreciate it." Her tone was light and teasing, lilting almost as if she were singing. She raised up onto her toes, arms arcing gracefully above her head. Her eyes fluttered closed as she arched her back. Jayne knew provocation when he saw it; he growled in response.

"I don't know what you're tryin' to do, but you best stop it now."

She landed in first position, wearing a little frown. "Why so averse to paying a compliment? Dance is time-honored, a worthy skill to be honed. Every ape-man-gone-wrong-thing can dance."

"Hey, I can't dance anymore'n you can lift me over yer bitty little head and throw me." He grunted and was pleased to see that she recognized their conversation was over. She moved a bit further away from him, but kept up her dancing. It wasn't his fault there was nothing but her to look at, otherwise he'd certainly have never given the girl a moment of thought.

With a sort of tight-lipped satisfaction, he went back to his weights, the repetitive motions enough to clear his head of any traitorous, River-related thought. And he would have stayed like that, eyes trained ahead - had she not kept dancing right at the edges of his vision, occasionally dipping into his line of sight. That made it slightly harder to concentrate, not only because he had been thinking of her a bit softly.

It wasn't any sort of compliment, at any rate, so he couldn't understand why she'd said anything at all. If he did get embarrassed (_'Which I don't,'_ he added mentally), then certainly he'd be embarrassed to know she'd read his thoughts. But they were his thoughts, and he had every right to think any way he chose. And if he wanted to liken her dancing to fighting, well then that was his business and his business only.

_"Ain't my fault,"_ he thought. _"She's th' one doin' it - lookin' like some kinda outta place ballerina with them boots, all graceful and deadly at th' same time, prancin' like there ain't no ground."_

River leapt into view again, landing gracefully and falling on the floor, legs spread into splits. That seemed to be the end of whatever routine she'd been doing. She then folded up and stood, staring at some point to her left vacantly. "I have words," she said suddenly, eyes snapping to Jayne like two bright, focused beams.

"What? Ain't got no idea what you're talkin' 'bout."

"She walks in beauty like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies, and all that's best of dark and bright meets in her aspect and her eyes, thus mellowed to that tender light which heaven to gaudy day denies. One shade the more, one ray the less, had half impaired the nameless grace which waves in every raven tress or softly lightens o'er her face, where thoughts serenely sweet express how pure, how dear their dwelling place."

Well. That was unexpected. Jayne wasn't quite sure what she had meant by all that, but they didn't seem to have been her words anyway, so he figured that was all right.

River smiled, apparently very pleased with herself. "For you," she said. "You think such things about me so loudly, but you deny it. So I have given you another's words to use in place of your own." And with a complicated sort of curtsey, she scampered off, leaving him with no time to dispute what they both knew he had been thinking.

"Hmm." He shook his head, deciding it best to retreat to his bunk, regardless of how it smelled, until the next meal. "Walkin' beautiful like the night." The words seemed to fit Inara better than they did River, though the Companion had more of the trappings of warm, soothing sunshine. Jayne thought about the vast stretch of darkness surrounding them, where each planet or moon clung desperately to its own little space, where there was so much emptiness, where the deep black was punctuated only by the glow of the ships that sailed through it. The picture did fit River - a mind swirlingly empty, with only a few shreds of sanity there to grab on to.

He flopped down on to his bed, one foot hanging off the edge. With only his girls there to hear, it didn't matter how loudly he thought. River was just as dark and bright as 'Nara, though in a much different way. She didn't have the sparkling eyes and perfect features, but she did have that hard, brittle bit inside of her, sweltering and strong, to pull out when she needed it. And she did, without question, have grace. He sighed, trying to recall exactly which words she had used. "Guess that ain't a half-bad way t' see her."

Jayne stayed in his bunk until he got called to eat. He grumblingly made his way into the galley, still half-thinking of what River had said. He could admit to himself that he had admired her dancing, but he'd be spaced, spliced or fed through an engine before he'd admit it to anybody else.

"Hey Jayne," Kaylee said happily. "You been hidin' out? Hadn't seen you nearly all day."

"Cap'n weren't too happy earlier," he replied, sitting down. "Tried to stay outta his way."

Kaylee nodded. "Yep, that's best when he gets all worked up - must be 'cause those pants o' his are so tight." She laughed brightly, and Jayne gave her half a smile.

"What's so funny?" Mal asked, pulling out his chair and sitting down.

Kaylee giggled behind her hand and said, "Nothin' Cap! Not a thing."

"Sure little Kaylee - sure." Mal rolled his eyes then said "When're we eatin'? Thought you and the doc cooked."

"Oh, he just went to get River," Kaylee said with a smile. "Go on an' get a plate if you want to!"

"Think I will."

"You gonna get me one, too?" Jayne asked.

"I'll give ya three guesses - an' while you're thinkin' on 'em, why don't you get your lazy pi gu up and get it yourself?"

He grunted, but took the captain's advice.

The others filtered in not long after, fixing plates and then sitting down. After everyone was settled at the table, the Tam siblings came in, Simon holding tightly to his sister's wrist.

"Be seated," River commanded him lightly, pulling away.

He nodded and obeyed. It was obvious he expected her to sit down, as well, but instead she skipped around the table. "Girl can't sit yet," she chided him. "Must dance. Girl was made for dancing, wasn't she?" She giggled and looked over towards the mercenary.

Jayne grunted in acknowledgment and River smiled, twirling once more around the table then plopping herself down in the seat next to her brother. He gave her a worried look, but she just serenely patted his hand.

Mal turned to the mercenary curiously. He let out a captainy clearing-of-the-throat and said, "Jayne? Ya wanna share with the rest o' us?"

Obviously uncomfortable, the large man sat up in his seat and looked at Mal, his brows furrowed. "Well... Ya always tell me I gotta get along with her. See, I went to the hold to do some liftin' an' I found her there on my bench - finally got 'er over to some crates and I thought she'd leave me alone. But then she started swayin' all crazy-like, and - "

"Not crazy," River interrupted casually, her foot on her chair and her tiny chin resting on her knee.

"Yeah, okay," Jayne said, clearly disagreeing. But at Mal's look he cleared his throat and continued. "So she was swayin' and then she started that twirly dance go se o' hers. Weren't my fault she did it; an' I tried to concentrate on my weights, but she kept gettin' closer and closer."

River giggled. Jayne shot her a fearsome glare, but she ignored him and said, "Watched the dainty girl twirl - as graceful as when she fights."

Jayne crosses his arms and looked away. "Weren't nothin' like that. I just thought it was funny - somethin' so fancified and prissy bein' like them moves she uses to take someone down."

"Couldn't voice it," River told them all sagely, nodding along as she spoke. "Gave him the words." She looked at him, grinning slyly. "Speak, boy, and you'll get a biscuit."

"Hey! I ain't no ruttin' dog!" Jayne said angrily, banging two meaty fists on the table.

Trying to ward off an argument, Kaylee asked, "Well, what words she talkin' 'bout, huh, Jayne? If she gave 'em to ya, I bet they're real pretty, jus' like her dancin'."

He seemed appeased. "Okay - only 'cause I _can_ remember 'em." He sneered at River. "I ain't stupid." She only grinned good-naturedly, then stuck out her tongue. Jayne shot her a dirty look, then scrunched up his face, trying to recall what River had said - what had so disconcertingly matched his own thoughts. "It was som'in 'bout... She's walkin' in the night, with cloudless climbin' on starry skies. An' all that's best of dark an' light meetin' her aspect and her eyes."

Simon sputtered, recognizing the mangled verse. "_That's_ what you think about my sister?"

Jayne frowned. "What? I ain't said nothin' wrong, and them's her words, not mine. And it's like her, I guess, 'cause we're in the black so much, so night - an' then she's a dancer and a gorram crazy assassin-woman, too. S'dark an' light. An' she's got almost too much gorram gracefulness."

River giggled again, looking at Simon with a large, mischievous grin.

Inara looked over at the girl, letting herself wear a warm, indulgent smile. "Yes, Jayne, I suppose that does describe River."

"See?" he asked them all defensively. "Even 'Nara thinks so! An' anyway, she's more fittin' to them words than the moonbrain is. 'Nara's actually beautiful. The crazy-girl's just... just crazy."

"Be nice, Jayne!" Kaylee said. "River, you're real beautiful, too. Ain't that right everyone?" The rest of the crew - minus Jayne, naturally - nodded in agreement.

"I know," River said simply. She looked slyly over to Jayne, wearing a teasing grin. "Girl looked content," she said, mimicking him. "Almost pretty. Gorram, if it weren't the moonbrain it'd be almost mesmerizin'. Just as dark an' bright as 'Nara, only in a diff'rent way. Got that strong bit inside 'er to pull out when she needs it. Beauty like the night... Nameless grace... Guess that ain't a half-bad way t' see her."

"Hey!" Jayne exclaimed, standing up. "I was in my bunk; I weren't even thinkin' around you - stay the hell outta my head!"

"Quicksand, quicksand Jayne-brain's filled with thick sand."

The two continued squabbling as the rest of the crew exchanged glances. "That disturb anyone else?" Mal asked.

Zoe knocked back a large swig of her drink. "More than I can say, sir."

"I think it's sweet," Kaylee said.

Simon just closed his eyes and groaned. He shook his head, hoping with all he had that his sister "giving" those words to Jayne didn't mean what he thought it did. _"A mind at peace with all below..."_ He looked over at his sister, who was smiling and laughing as she teased the large mercenary. _"A heart whose love is innocent."_

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Thanks for reading; hope you enjoyed it! Please review!


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